


After the Dog Days of Summer

by morganoconner



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-12
Updated: 2013-06-12
Packaged: 2017-12-14 17:23:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/839428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganoconner/pseuds/morganoconner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles checks in on Derek after the events of <i>Chaos Rising</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Dog Days of Summer

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a long time since I've written an episode tag, but I couldn't resist this one. Obviously, there are some spoilers here for 3.02. Ye be warned.
> 
> Many thanks to Chelle for all her help, both with beta-reading and with the title! ♥

Stiles doesn't hear about it from Derek, because of course he doesn't. No, when Derek leaves the bank, as far as Stiles can tell, he immediately goes into hiding. This makes sense because that's what Derek does best when there are _feelings_ involved.

It's Scott who texts Stiles and tells him they need to talk 'RIGHT NOW STILES OMG'. It's Scott who paces the length of Stiles' room, hands flailing as he details all the ways their rescue attempt went wrong. It's Scott whose fists clench as he confesses that someone is probably going to die tonight because of them. And it's Scott who finally sits down across from Stiles and tells him about Derek's little sister.

At that point, Stiles stops being entirely focused on his best friend, gripped by the sudden urge to find Derek, because he can't be dealing well.

"What are we gonna do, Stiles?" Scott asks.

Stiles can only shake his head. "I don't know, buddy. But we'll figure it out." He hopes. "Look," he says as casually as he can, trying not to make Scott suspicious. "You should get some rest, you still look like crap."

Scott pulls a face, but he can't argue; healing always takes a lot out of him. Stiles nods to his bed and waits just long enough for Scott to crash hard before he goes to find a certain wayward Alpha.

It's not hard to deduce where Derek will be. Not the loft, because that's the first place anyone (besides Stiles, who knows him too well by now) would look for him, and Peter is probably still there anyway. No, if Derek wants to be alone, he'll be at the charred remains of his old house. If he wants to be _really_ alone, he'll hide somewhere even Stiles can't find him, but Stiles is trying to be optimistic about his chances here.

He's familiar with the drive these days, the way his Jeep bucks over the uneven ground once he passes the entrance to the preserve. He knows the ins and outs of this route the same way he knows the way to the station or to school or to Scott's house, so he's mostly on autopilot while he drives, not paying a whole lot of attention to his surroundings in his single-minded determination to get to Derek.

The house comes into view the way it always does: sudden and looming and depressing as hell. Derek spent a lot of time here over the summer, Stiles thinks trying to get as much time with the place as he can before the county inevitably tears it down.

(Secretly, Stiles is going to be grateful when that day finally comes, because he hates that Derek tortures himself this way, even if he can sort of understand it. It's like the way he still has a dusty old bottle of his mom's favorite perfume hidden away in his closet, and he curls up in there sometimes and allows himself one small spray, on really bad days when he needs to pretend she's still there. He thinks it the same thing, a little bit.)

The Camaro isn't parked anywhere nearby, but that doesn't mean anything, because Derek likes to run when he's stressed out about something. And sure enough, just as Stiles is climbing out of the Jeep, Derek appears, staring at him from the porch with his arms crossed, frown firmly in place.

"What are you doing here, Stiles?" he asks, already sounding resigned to the fact that now that Stiles is here, he's not going to be able to get rid of him without some effort.

"What do you think?" Stiles counters, stopping at the foot of the stairs and shoving his hands in his pockets. Waiting for an invitation he isn't a hundred percent sure Derek's going to give.

But Derek sighs, rolling his eyes and stepping back toward the door. "Come on, then," he says, and disappears inside without waiting to see if Stiles will follow.

Which of course Stiles does, practically tripping over his own feet in his haste to scramble up the stairs and through the front door.

Derek is watching him from where he's already seated himself halfway up the staircase, hunched over so his elbows are resting on his spread thighs, hands held loosely together between them. Without waiting for another invitation, Stiles makes his way up the stairs to join him, shoving himself into the small crevice of space Derek has left him on his step. He doesn't even think about it when he leans over automatically to rest his cheek on Derek's shoulder.

Derek's breath hitches, muscles tensing for a brief moment that has Stiles panicking before Derek straightens enough to turn his head and press his nose into Stiles' hair. Stiles allows himself one single soft sigh of relief.

"Scott told you everything?" Derek asks quietly, though he obviously already knows.

"Yeah," Stiles replies anyway. "Sounds like you guys had a hell of a night."

Derek snorts, drawing away a bit. "You could say that."

"You okay?" Stiles asks, even though he knows it's a dumb question.

The answering shrug dislodges Stiles' position against Derek's shoulder, but he just uses it as an excuse to get closer, pressing himself against Derek's side and reaching for one of his hands as if he's still allowed to. When Derek's fingers curl around his own, Stiles has to hide a small, relieved smile.

"So…Cora, huh?" Stiles squeezes Derek's hand to soften the blow. He remembers Derek's youngest sister, a little. She'd been in the same year as him and Scott in school, if not in the same social circles. After the fire, her seat in his homeroom had remained empty for the rest of the year, no one daring to touch it, like it might be cursed or something.

"Yeah." Derek breathes the answer out on a sigh, nodding. "She… Laura and I, we were safe because we were at school when the fire happened. But Cora stayed home on full moons because her control wasn't the greatest. There wasn't…" He stops, swallowing. His hand clenches around Stiles' painfully, but Stiles doesn't breathe a word of protest, just tightens his own grip while Derek continues. "There wasn't anything left to identify, after, but there was no word for months, and we just assumed…"

"You think the Alpha pack had her this whole time?" Stiles asks softly.

"I can't think of why she wouldn't have come home to us otherwise." Derek shakes his head. "I just don't understand why they would've been here then. My parents never said anything that I can remember, but the timing of it all, Kate and the fire and Cora disappearing, and everything happening now, it's –"

"Probably not a coincidence," Stiles finishes for him. "Jesus, Derek."

"Yeah."

They're both silent for a long moment, and then Stiles releases a slow breath. "You should have let me go with you guys." He glances over in time to see Derek's eyes flash.

"You know why I couldn't. And what does that have to do with –"

"You didn't have any problem letting me risk life and limb helping you search all summer," Stiles says, jaw clenching. "And you should have had someone there. If Allison hadn't been sneaking around…" Another breath, in and out, that does almost nothing to actually calm him, because now he's thinking about the what ifs and the just in times. "You just. You shouldn't have been alone for all that."

"I wasn't alone," Derek tries, looking a little desperate when Stiles sneaks a glance at him. "That's the whole _point_ , Stiles, now that Scott's back and you don't want him to figure out –"

" _Me?_ " Stiles cuts in abruptly, anger flaring in spite of himself. "I was never the one with the problem here, Derek, remember? That was all you!" He tries to pull his hand away, but Derek doesn't let go, instead using his hold to turn Stiles toward him. Before he can say anything, Stiles keeps going, bulldozing right over any possible protests. "I don't care, I _never_ cared what Scott thought of us working together, or…whatever. He had his hiatus from everyone, he turned himself into the New and Improved Scott McCall, and in case you haven't noticed, it _worked_. He's working with you, Derek, willingly. I don't really think he would care about the last four months and even if he did –"

"Even if he did, what, Stiles? You can't tell me that it wouldn't bother you, if your best friend found out everything you've been up to and wasn't okay with it." Derek doesn't yell much these days, and he's not now, but this calm assurance is almost worse. Especially when Stiles can see the look in his eyes that he's trying to hide, the one that tells Stiles exactly how much Derek cares.

"Look," Stiles says carefully, thinking hard about trying to say exactly what he means without the word vomit for once, because this is important. "We all – every single one of us – did some growing up recently. A lot of it in the last few months. Do I think Scott would be weirded out? Yeah, course he would be, but I trust him to keep it together, okay? I trust him to trust _me_. And being able to talk about the stuff we found this summer without all the cloak-and-dagger crap of trying to keep me out of it…that would be nice, Derek, and you know it." He lets his eyes meet Derek's again. "Aren't you tired of secrets?"

Derek stares at him for what feels like a miniature eternity, before nodding once, slowly. "So you want to…come clean."

"And to find Boyd and Cora. And to stop the Alphas. And to…stop trying to find distractions that would let me forget about this summer." Stiles' mouth quirks in a small, unwilling smile. "I want a lot of things, actually."

"As it turns out," Derek says, his eyes steady on Stiles', "I want a lot of those things myself."

"Yeah?" Stiles asks, his smile growing. Derek leans forward, placing a soft, familiar kiss behind Stiles' ear and then pressing their foreheads together.

"Yeah."

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is mostly used to reblog pretty art, but I'm trying to be better about using it more. You can find me [here](http://morganoconner.tumblr.com/) if you're so inclined. :)


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